March 3 - Reform begins

March 3 – Reform begins

By this point, the church was a mess. In 1409, cardinals from Avignon and Rome decided that the schism had to end. They met – the Council of Pisa – and decided that a church council could make decisions binding the church without necessarily needing a pope. The Council rejected both the French and Italian popes and elected a new Roman bishop. The only problem? Those two popes refused to acknowledge their dismissal. All of a sudden there were three popes on the scene. No one, including the priests knew where the true church was.

A professor of philosophy at Oxford University in England decided that there might be a different way to apply the word ‘church.’ He began teaching that the church wasn’t about the pope, the priests or even the sacraments. The church was about the people called by God to faith in Jesus Christ. He used scripture to teach his message. He also believed that every single person should be able to understand the Bible.

John Wycliffe found himself in trouble with the church quite often and faced down charges of heresy regularly. As he studied scripture, he began to question the official Catholic position on things and their right to power and wealth. He loudly questioned the sale of indulgences – letters pardoning a person’s sin that were sold to benefit the church. He was unhappy with superstitious worship of saints and relics (body parts of dead saints) and he flat out questioned the authority of the pope. He also began to call into question the doctrine of transubstantiation (communion elements actually being transformed into the body and blood of Christ).

These things brought him before bishops and councils on a regular basis with those charges of heresy. Since he lived in England, he found a lot of support. The monarchy and the lesser rulers were glad to support his claims against the church since they resented the church trying to take power and money from them.

For quite awhile, he and his followers – the Lollards – or Poor Preachers, worked with the common people teaching scripture and traveled throughout England. But, as time passed, he lost some of his popularity and in 1377 his writing was banned.

That was fine with John Wycliffe. He began translating the Bible into English so that everyone could read it. He completed a first edition and an improved second edition was published, just after his death. The Lollards continued to distribute that even though it was illegal.

John Wycliffe died in 1384 in good standing with the church, but thirty one years later, he was excommunicated and in 1428 his body was exhumed, burned and scattered on the river Swift.

His ideas began to move through Europe, though and by the time the papacy was in real trouble, the seeds of reformation had begun.